Persons with disabilities find work online

Persons with disabilities (PWDs) have found suitable means of earninga living on the internet.

Differently-abled graphic artist head, Darlito Palermo, engineer, said his organization established by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has paved way for about 50 PWDs in Davao City to work online, earning as much as P30,000 a month.

Palermo viewed online jobs as suitable for PWDs who need not go to workplaces which, mostly, have yet to establish accessible features such as ramps.

“The can work at home. They don’t need to go out, commute, and go to work in establishments which are not accessible,” he said.

PWDs are now working online for companies based in Singapore, Netherlands, the United States, Australia, and other developed countries, rendering services as virtual assistants, web designers, content writers, data encoder, remote PC assistant, among others.

Totally blind, 25-year-old Maricel Fornis of Sasa, Davao City shared her experiences working online during the Career and Employment Advocacy held Wednesday at SM City Annex in observance of the 34th National Prevention and Rehabilitation Week.

Fornis said she lost her sight in a vehicular accident in February 2002, but she rose from the misfortune by training for online work.

She now serves as the virtual secretary of an executive director of a company based in Singapore. She arranges flight summaries, book hotels, coordinate meetings, and prepare documents for visa applications of her employer.

She views online work as beneficial to PWDs who would be spared from the hazards of mobile barriers because they only have to stay at home and work on their internet-connected personal computers. Working online makes them save expenses for transportation and fuel, she said.

Fornis also shared information about the values and attitudes which had help her stay long in online work. She said one must be determined, resourceful, initiative, conscious about the importance of global services and must be result-oriented.

“Gikinahanglan ang right attitude. Dali lang tun-an ang computer pero dili ang right attitude. Apan ang right attitude ang gikinahanglan kaayo. (Right attitude is needed. It is easy to learn how to use the computer but not the right attitude which is the most important),” she said.

Meanwhile, 30-year old orthopedic Gil V. Alfeche of Sasa, Davao City is now working as a quality control assurance officer of an English online tutorial company based in Singapore.

Recalling his quest for a job, he said he used to repair cellphone services, among other odd jobs after dropping from college as a graduating student of computer engineering of the University of Mindanao.

Because of his desire to look for jobs online, he borrowed money from friends just to buy his own computer unit and connected to the internet. That started opening up fortunes for him.

“Dili lang jud ta mawad-an ug paglaum. (Let’s not lose hope),” he said. (source JA-PIA 11)

Ex-President Charged With Another Plunder Case

The Office of the Ombudsman on Monday filed plunder charges against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and nine other former state officials, mostly of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), for allegedly misusing P365,997,915 in PCSO funds.

It was the first plunder case against Arroyo who is under hospital arrest at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City for electoral sabotage during the 2007 senatorial election.

Also named respondents in the 10-page complaint filed before the Sandiganbayan are former PCSO General Manager Rosario Uriarte, Assistant General Manager for Finance Benigno Aguas, and former PCSO board members Sergio Valencia, Manuel Morato, Raymon Roquero, Maria Fatima Valdez and Jose R. Taruc V.

Former Commission on Audit (COA) Chairman Reynaldo Villar and COA Region 5 head Nilda Plaras were also named in the complaint.

PCSO Director Aleta Tolentino earlier said the COA officials were included because of their “conspiracy and connivance.”

No bail was recommended for the accused, said the Sandiganbayan.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales approved the plunder case.

Based on the information filed by the Ombudsman, Arroyo and her nine co-accused conspired and connived to acquire ill-gotten wealth from the PCSO from January 2008 to June 2010.

Morales underscored the evidence that indicated Uriarte wrote to Arroyo eight times requesting that she be allowed to draw from the agency’s intelligence fund.

The money to be drawn from the fund was supposed to have been used “to monitor the PCSO’s charitable activities and projects; to buy information to determine if the funds were being used for the purposes for which [they] were intended; to fund an investigation of how medicine given to beneficiaries marked “Botika ng Masa” had ended up in commercial markets, and to counter various scams victimizing lotto bettors and winners.”

Morales earlier filed a graft case against Arroyo in connection with the $329-million national broadband (NBN) deal with China’s ZTE.

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